Founded in 2002, the Society encourages the creation of watercolor at all skill levels and promotes interest, appreciation and enjoyment of watercolor and watermedia. Please feel free to attend one of our meetings. Monthly meetings are held on the first Wednesday of every month, at 10 a.m. at the Cincinnati Art Club, 1021 Parkside Place, Cincinnati, Ohio, unless otherwise noted.

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Program Chair,
Claudia Taylor, introduced member Carolyn Hibbard, Presenter for August.
Carolyn has been painting for quite some time, and loves it! She had her
education in Commercial Art and Graphic Design. She is a Charter Member of the
GCWS. And Carolyn has continued to learn and experiment with many different
kinds of Art and techniques, etc. She has been accepted into quite a number of
State Watercolor Societies; has been published in a number of art books, and
has won many awards for her work. Carolyn is donating her stipend to the Mary
Marxen Scholarship Fund.

Carolyn’s subject for
the day is “Pouring”, and she credits Jean Grastorf, who teaches at Spring
Maid, with starting and encouraging this technique.

Carolyn began by
telling us that the whole painting can be done by “pouring”, or you can just do
parts of your painting this way, and also incorporate the use of brushes. The
“pouring” is rather quick - - but, the sketching, thumbnail, and learning about
your subject before hand takes a bit of time and patience. She works out her
values on the thumbnail, pulling out the whites and darkening some parts;
pulling out “shapes”. Carolyn’s teacher and friend, Fred Graff, suggests using
three shades of gray. As we know - “Color gets the credit; but Values do all
the work”.

First stage - whites saved.

She usually enlarges her photo or reference material so that
she can see it very well. Carolyn stretches her paper by wetting it, stapling
it down while wet; then when dry, she uses masking tape all around to hold it
all down flat. She usually uses Arches 140 lb. cold press. 300 lb. paper
usually does not have to be stretched.

Yellow, Red and Blue have all been poured adjacaent to each other.

Paper is tilted, excess paint and water poured off.

She draws the picture and then transfers it to the
watercolor paper (so that there will not be any erasures, etc. to ruin the w/c
paper). She also advised us to use cheap, cheap or Cheap Joe’s “UGLI” brushes
to put masking fluid on your paper; never your good ones. Dip in a bit of soap
before dipping into fluid. She uses little cups purchased at GFS to hold the
masking; don’t dip into bottle and contaminate it. Later this dried fluid can
act as a masking fluid “eraser”. She also uses the little cups to hold her
diluted paint; mostly Cheap Joe’s brand; and some Windsor-Newton or Daniel
Smith; mostly all transparent.

End of first stage - one pour completed, next value covered with miskit.

Carolyn usually
selects a Blue, a Red, and a Yellow (different shades depending on the
painting), with sometimes a little help with darker tone, Burnt Sienna, etc.
She advises a very careful test of each of the colors first; mixed up to just
the value you want. Use a different brush for each color. Decide on your 3 or 4
values of each of these colors. Then mask out the Whites on your paper. Wet the
whole paper, and wipe the edges with a tissue. Keep the water from pooling near
the masking. Wipe off any excess water to prevent “blooming”. Pour each of the
colors in succession, in the area you will want them to be; but do not pour
them on top of each other; just next to each other. Then pick up the paper and
turn it in many directions so that the paint will mix on the paper. You can use
a “pipette” to put more paint on some places. Turn the paper so that all
moisture runs down to one corner; blot it off. Stand it this way until dry.

Second pour.

When your paper is Completely Dry — look at it carefully.
What do I want to keep this first value? Mask those places. Add more
pigment/paint to the cups you used before for your second Value, and test each
of colors/values. Wet the whole paper; wipe off excess, and do whole pouring
process again. Stand on Corner until Dry.

A completed painting (similar to her demo painting)

Depending upon your
Painting, etc. you may want to do one or two or more “Pourings” - masking areas
you want to stay a certain Value, and putting more paint on areas you want to
be darker/more vivid, or even use a brush for certain effects.

Some of Carolyn's beautiful painting examples.

Carolyn has a “ruling pen”, used in mechanical drawing, that
she uses to put on her Pebeo brand masking in a thin line. Some folks stated
that Suder’s on Vine Street may stock them.

All attendees enjoyed Carolyn’s Pouring Lesson, the
wonderful handouts she prepared, and the Critiques afterwards.

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

On a beautiful warm, summer day, President Kathy Lang called
the meeting to order. Guests were welcomed, which included Doug Hibbard,
husband of our Presenter; Tony Pestio, Janet’s guest; and Diane Jeffries, who
became aware of our group through our Blog on the Internet.

A surprising number of people raised their hands to tell
that they were staying after the meeting for Open Painting (and pizza) - 20. All helped to set up more tables and chairs. Lesson was on DVD - miniature paintings with
various techniques.

Announcements: Kathy Lang has made arrangements for us to
hold our Annual Exhibit next year at the “Barn” again. We will have our August
meeting there on August 2. Members will bring their paintings on that day, and
after the meeting, the Hanging Committee will ready them for the Show. It was
decided that we would have the Exhibit open from the next day (Thursday, 8/3)
through 8/27 (Sunday), with Pick Up Day on Tuesday, 8/29. We will have the
Reception on Sunday, 8/6/17.

Deb Ward announced
that Roger Ross has his complete Show Booth for sale; contact him if you are
interested. Deb is giving a Workshop on “Red Hot Tomatoes” soon. If you are
entered in any shows, or have won an award, etc. please contact Deb so that she
can put the news into the Blog.

Workshop Chair, Dianne Duncan said there is one place left
for the October 28-30 Workshop. If interested, contact Dianne soon. For those
members who have not paid the full amount yet, it is due by September 1. Be
sure to keep your space with your check! Dianne will give instructions for all
workshop attendees on stretching your paper over canvas in September.

Our Presenter for July (Dick Close) has donated his stipend
he received from us to a group called “Visionaries & Voices”, who work with
people with disabilities. We were pleased to hear about this kind action.

The meeting was kept rather short today so that we would
have plenty of time to have the Demo and lesson from our own Carolyn Hibbard.

Diana Marra will have a Solo Exhibit at Evendale Cultural Arts Center, Opening Friday March 2 from 6-8. The Exhibit is called "A Taste of Asia" and will of course have Sake and Sushi in addition to the usual wine-and-cheese Opening fare. Exhibit is also open 12-4 on Sat. and Sunday March 3 & 4. Diana will offer a mini-workshop - "A Taste" - on Wed. March 14, 6:30-8, cost $20 / all materials provided in 3 versions of oriental-style painting. For more information contact Diana.

Diana Marra will also have an opening at Christ Church Cathedral, 318 E. 4th Street, Cincinnati "Flowers Everywhere" Thursday March 1 from 5:30-8 p.m. and will have a painting in the Cincinnati Art Club Associates Show at Parkside Place where we meet for GCWS, Friday March 2 6-9.